Week of March 3, 2002
Xbox Tops the Japanese Charts
>> Althought several reports showed low Xbox sales in Japan , Famitsu (a popular Japenese game mag) has 4 Xbox games in the Top10.
*1 Dead or Alive 3 Xbox - 84,471
*2 Doubutsu Banchou GCN 48,694
*3 Samurai PS2 - 38,026
*4 Sangokushi Senki PS2 - 35,515
*5 Grandia II PS2 - 28,230
*6 Genma Onimusha Xbox 19,834
*7 Virtua Fighter PS2 - 16,496
*8 Jet Set Radio Future Xbox - 15,073
*9 Project Gotham Xbox - 14,766
*10 Doubutsu no Mori GCN 12,038
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(Saturday 09 March 2002 18:15 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Xbox Situation in Japan
>> After the scratched-disc problem with some Xboxes in Japan, there were false reports of a recall there. This has been confirmed to be untrue.
An apparent misinterpretation of information on a Microsoft Japan Web site resulted today in a report of a recall of Microsoft's Xbox game console in Japan. This report is incorrect. There is no recall of Xbox in Japan or any other market.
The Xbox Japan Web site did report that Microsoft Customer Care Japan had received a small number of inquires (significantly less than one percent of systems sold) from customers reporting small scratches to the outside edge of some game disks after use in the Xbox game consoles. While this is not a common occurrence, and minor scratching is primarily a cosmetic circumstance that does not affect performance, a positive customer experience is of the utmost importance to Microsoft. Xbox Japan responded accordingly in its statement offering to evaluate any Xbox system that a customer is concerned about. If it is determined by Microsoft Customer Care that a system needs to be repaired or replaced for any reason, it will do so immediately.
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(Saturday 09 March 2002 18:08 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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News confirmed by Reuters : Square goes Gamecube.
>> LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Japan's Square Co. Ltd. , after a six-year absence, will return the legendary "Final Fantasy" video game series to Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s consoles, Nintendo said on Friday.
Confirming earlier reports in Japan, a Nintendo of America spokeswoman told Reuters that Square will set up a subsidiary to develop new versions of the series for Nintendo's GameCube console and Game Boy Advance handheld unit.
Nintendo expects "Final Fantasy" titles for its consoles to be released by the end of the year, the spokeswoman said.
"Final Fantasy XI," the next title in the series, is expected to take advantage of the online multi-player features of the PS2 Sony unveiled on Thursday, and the Nintendo deal is not expected to stop further PS2 production.
Sony in October invested $116 million in Square, making it the company's second-largest shareholder. The infusion came after Square posted its worst-ever loss, caused by the production of a movie version of "Final Fantasy" that was a major commercial flop.
Read the full article.
So it seems like Square will develop on both GC & PS2 ... nothing about the Xbox tho. Must be bad news for Microsoft Japan.
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(Saturday 09 March 2002 02:29 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Nintendo does it. Final Fantasy back to Nintendo !!
>> According to the Saturday edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun , Square and Nintendo have reached an agreement that will bring Final Fantasy games to the GameCube and Game Boy Advance platforms. Under the agreement, Nintendo has confirmed that president Hiroshi Yamauchi will allocate money from Fund Q--a fund Yamauchi set up in January to help encourage software development--to a new Square-affiliated development house. In return, Square will establish the new development house with help from Akitoshi Kawazu, a director from the Final Fantasy development team, by the end of this month.
The Square affiliate is expected to release games for both the GameCube and Game Boy Advance before the end of the year. Square properties other than Final Fantasy were not mentioned in the report.
We'll have more information as it becomes available.
Note that neither company has affirmed the port status of FFXI.
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(Saturday 09 March 2002 02:24 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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X-box unpopular in HongKong
>> Recent reports from retailers and wholeseller in Hong Kong state that the demand for the Xbox over there is practically none.
And if the recent pricedrops continuet he box will become very cheap (or reasonably priced, you choose) within a couple of weeks, just in the recent couple of days the machine dropped with about 25USD. Only time will tell if the European release is looking at the same vague interest from the public.
Judging by pre-orders weŽd say the interest is nowhere near its peak, this might be due to the high price again though.
Movie Industry Cries All the Way to the Bank
>> Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, has reported that the year 2001 was the "greatest box office year in film history" with movie admissions reaching their highest level since 1959. Isn't this the same industry that is complaining that piracy is putting them out of business?
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(Thursday 07 March 2002 16:26 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Microsoft addresses Japan Xbox gripes
>> Microsoft stepped up its efforts Thursday to deal with an increasing number of customer complaints in Japan about scratched discs in its Xbox video game machine, offering to repair or replace any defective products.
Microsoft Japan said earlier this week it would replace any consoles determined to be defective.
On Thursday the company said it would unconditionally replace all hardware and any damaged software because it found some scratches on discs and could not explain why.
"We do not consider this a recall," Microsoft spokeswoman Midori Takahashi said, adding that the scratches found on the DVD edges did not interfere with game playing.
The software giant launched the Xbox in Japan two weeks ago, hoping to convince Japan's notoriously fickle gaming public and software creators that its machine could rival those of Sony and Nintendo on their home turf.
The scratches, which Microsoft says were most likely caused by DVD discs spinning in the console, improper placement on loading trays or by the sliding tray itself, were also reported in the United States after the Xbox was launched in mid-November.
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(Thursday 07 March 2002 16:23 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Judge dismisses Columbine lawsuit
>> US District Court Judge Lewis Babcock has officially dismissed a lawsuit that claimed games from Id Software, Nintendo, Acclaim, Activision, and seven other game companies directly influenced the actions of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who were responsible for the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Id Software's Doom was one of the games specifically cited in the lawsuit, which was originally filed by the family of a teacher killed in the tragedy and on behalf of all the other victims.
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(Thursday 07 March 2002 15:59 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Xbox Scratching Game Discs?
>> Microsoft said today that several users had reported that the console was scratching game discs, but there was no need to recall the hardware or software. The software giant said the small scratches were most likely caused by the DVD discs spinning in the console being improperly placed on loading trays or by the sliding tray itself.
"In the case that there is actual damage that makes it impossible to play games, we will of course replace them," said Midori Takahashi, a Microsoft Xbox spokeswoman.
"But so far we have not found this to be the case."
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(Tuesday 05 March 2002 02:34 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Datel RegionX for Xbox!
>> We contacted Datel today and got a positive answer. DVD RegionX is coming to the (PAL) Xbox.
The product is still in early stage so they couldn't give us more info at this moment.
We'll keep you updated about this product as soon as we got more info.
Multiregion DVDmovies on Xbox ?
>> We just found a new product on play.com :
The media raved about the PlayStation2 version of this popular product. Ingenius and easy-to-use, DVD Region X transforms your Xbox into a multi-region DVD player, letting you watch DVD movies from all over the world - without making any alterations to your console. A must-have for serious movie fans.
Note that this product has not been tested by us yet and it looks quiet strange as they don't have an official MS license , so we wonder how they make it boot on the Xbox ...
Xbox RegionX
More news about this soon ...
ZDnet about Multi-Region Xbox Games
>> Forthcoming games for Microsoft's Xbox console will have regional codes, but the software giant will urge software publishers to make them work in all territories.
In an interview with ZDNet's GameSpot Wednesday, Xbox general manager J Allard revealed there will be three region codes for Xbox games -- one for Europe, one for Japan and one for North America. Although a publisher would be able to restrict a game so that it only worked in one region, Microsoft will be encouraging game developers to let their releases run in all three territories.
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